Death Wish 3 [Blu-ray]

This is meant to be a parody, right?
I know that Michael Winner got his start making comedies, then turned to making blunt and chilling action movies such as The Stone Killer, The Mechanic and the first Death Wish. However Death Wish 3 is so over the top that I have to wonder if Winner wasn't winking at the audience - and one or two scenes seem to be making some kind of satirical statement about this kind of entertainment catharsis. Paul Kersey returns to New York City to visit an old war buddy, but finds his friend dying from a beating given by the local thugs. Kersey is arrested and, while in the local jail, has a run in with the gang leader, a psychotic named Fraker (played with just the right amount of swagger by Gavan O'Herlihy). The police chief (Ed Lauter) is so frustrated with Fraker's gang running (and ruining) the neighborhood that he releases Kersey and wishes him happy shooting. "You're turning me loose?" Kersey asks. "I'm turning you loose." The cop replies. What follows is a...

Violent. Violent. Violent. And Funny.
DEATH WISH 3 is, for its time, an extremely violent movie. Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is a seemingly placid soul who goes about killing several hundred thugs and crooks in 1980's NYC. The "plot" finds Kersey returning to NYC where he visits an old war buddy, whom Kersey finds dying on his apartment floor, a victim of intruding gangs. Having lost his friend, Kersey decides to move into his buddy's old apartment and take up a war against the gangs overrunning the neighborhood. I wouldn't even say this is a tale of revenge, because you never get the sense that Kersey gives a damn about his friend's death. It's basically an invitation to kill, something Kersey accepts when a police commissioner asks for "help" in thinning out the criminal herds.

Kersey, a character born from the "silent majority" of the Nixon Era, has no character arc, no narrative, no place to go where he will eventually find peace. This movie is a showcase for violence-- funny, absurd, over-the-top...

SHAME ON YOU MGM!
... for messing up such a great movie! Movies like this one need special treatment. Putting this out in fullscreen is like giving it no attention at all. It's a shame because today even ultra-low budget films are being properly remastered for DVD releases. It seems that MGM does not realise at all the cult status of this movie- I mean there are countless people out there who have been waiting for a decent release of this movie. I don't consider this an upgrade to my old, fullscreen VHS so I won't be buying it.

As for the movie itself... no words could possibly describe it. It just reaches perfection.

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